Man City have been kind enough to release video footage of Samir Nasri's inaugural walk through the corporate offices at Eastlands, presumably en route to sign his megabucks contract. On one level, it's possibly the most banal video on youtube. Footballer walks up stairs, through an office, avoids small talk with a PR lady, meets Patrick Vieira, shakes hands with Gary Cook. Cut.
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]But after second look, the clip takes on a more frightening dimension. Football clubs rarely show the world what happens during the work week. And what do we see? An office scene not to foreign from the Slough paper distribution office that David Brent lorded over in 'The Office'. And City have their own Brent figure in Cook. "How are you, brother?" he says to Nasri before we fade to black. Cringe. Is it comforting or depressing to know that the petrodollar swagger of Man City FC is supported by an army of office drones? And what exactly is Vieira's role with the club? Is he the dude procrastinating around the water cooler and emailing cat photos to the entire office? Or is he a corner office guy? There are more questions than there are answers, I'm afraid.
